Guns, roping and a marital shootout all happen at the Rancher's dinner. This is Drummond party time with a real wild west influence. The menu includes Twice-Baked Potatoes, Fresh Corn Casserole and, of course, beef.
Guns, roping and a marital shootout all happen at the Rancher's dinner. This is Drummond party time with a real wild west influence. The menu includes Twice-Baked Potatoes, Fresh Corn Casserole and, of course, beef.
Below are the recipes used in today’s episode:
Twice-Baked Potatoes:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/twice-baked-potatoes-recipe-1925596
Homemade Ranch Dressing:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/homemade-ranch-dressing-recipe-1925765
Fresh Corn Casserole with Red Bell Peppers and Jalapenos:
On The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond shares her comforting home cooking from her kitchen on the ranch. With direct audio from her hit Food Network TV show, you can now enjoy Ree’s company as she cooks up meals for every occasion, from last-minute family suppers to elegant celebrations.
For even more recipes head to discovery+ and stream full episodes of The Pioneer Woman on discovery+. Head to discoveryplus.com/pioneerwoman to start your 7-day free trial today. Terms apply.
Find full episode transcript here: https://the-pioneer-woman.simplecast.com/episodes/ranchers-dinner
[MUSIC PLAYING] NARRATOR: I'm Ree Drummond. I'm a writer, blogger, photographer, mother. And I'm an accidental country girl. I live on a ranch in the middle of nowhere. And I've got a lot of mouths to feed. My style of food is simple yet scrumptious. And all my recipes have to be approved by cowboys, hungry kids, and me. Here's what's happening.
It's party time on the ranch. We're throwing a big rancher's dinner. That means, Lad's beef tenderloins, four of them. There's crowd pleasing twice baked potatoes. And no parties complete around here without a fresh corn casserole. I've got homemade ranch dressing over iceberg wedges. My sister-in-law, Missy, is making brownies and hot fudge sauce for ice cream sundaes.
And things get competitive between Lad and me when we go head to head in a marital shootout and a roping throwdown. May the best cowboy or cowgirl win. Welcome to my frontier.
We're having our big rancher's dinner tonight. It's when all of our friends from neighboring ranchers come over. They bring all their kids. And we just hang out and have a night of food, fun and fellowship.
We have steak and potatoes every year. I decided to whip together some twice baked potatoes. I've baked several, and I mean, several potatoes in the oven. But before I put them in the oven, I rub the skins with canola oil. And that just helps them hold together a little better and makes them a little prettier at the end.
Then I half them. Let them cool just for a few minutes. And I'm scooping out the shells. I leave a little bit of a border just to give them some support. But I'm going to have this huge bowl of potato. And that's where all the good stuff's going to go.
Now, I'm in here getting ready for the food part. My husband's outside getting ready for everything else.
SPEAKER 1: Why don't you all start filling that one up and I'll do this one. We're going to need a lot of ice when we get done with this so we can make sure everything's really cold. Let's get some ice wigging and then we can put a few more in.
NARRATOR: One of the things I love adding to my twice baked potatoes is thick cut bacon. So all of this bacon is going to distribute nicely. It won't be excessive, I promise. It won't be too excessive anyway. I'm adding six sticks of butter to these potatoes.
Now, I did a little math. And I baked 24 potatoes. That translates to 48 potato halves. And I'm adding 48 tablespoons of butter to the potatoes. So each potato half will only wind up with one tablespoon of butter. So if you think of it that way, it won't seem so overwhelming. And I'm going to put the bacon on top of it to hide the evidence.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
All right. Six total cups of shredded cheese. I'm going to save three cups for the finished potatoes. And I'll add three cups now. I'm going to add a cup and a half of milk. This will just make the potatoes nice and moist and soft. And then, shield your eyes again, sour cream. Fortunately, I'm not easily shocked when it comes to ingredients like this.
Chopped green onions adds a nice sharpness. A little more salt and pepper because really, you're having to season a lot of potatoes here. And the potatoes in this area don't come pre-seasoned. And then, just a sprinkling of seasoned salt. You can make your own seasoned salt if you want. Things like paprika, onion powder, onion salt, garlic powder or you can just buy this.
OK. Now, I've got to mix this together. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed but wish me luck. I'm going in. I think, I probably needed a bigger bowl. I'm just going to fold in the bulk of the ingredients.
And now, I'll grab the masher. My friend, Hyacinth, who's coming to dinner tonight always digs in and mixes her twice baked potatoes with her hands. I thought I'd spare myself the agony.
OK, I finally got it mixed together. All right, I've got the shells ready to go. They really held their shape nicely. And then, I just scoop the filling into each shell. Because I added so many ingredients to the potatoes, I'll wind up with way more filling than I need.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
One reason twice baked potatoes are so perfect for parties, aside from the fact that they're totally delicious, is that you can make them way in advance. You can make them early in the day. Stick them in the fridge. And then, when the guests arrive, just pop them in the oven. I've made them the day before too and it saves a lot of time on party day.
Now, I'm not pulling off this rancher's dinner by myself. My sister-in-law, Missy, is making brownies for dessert. She gets the fun job.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 2: I'm using Ree's recipe for the chocolate brownies because it's perfect every time. That's kind of the way we were brought up. I mean, you help your neighbor but you help your family even more. And I didn't want Ree to have to make everything, so I begged her to let me make something. OK, I'm going to pour. I think, the kids will go crazy over them.
NARRATOR: I've almost got all the potato halves filled. This is very strenuous work. Fortunately, I've been taking little tastes of the potato mixture all along. It has sustained me. Yeah, I thought I'd have a lot of extra filling but it appears I've eaten it all.
OK, I've got the rest of this shredded cheese. And before I put these in the fridge, I'm just going to sprinkle the tops. Last I checked, the kids were supposed to be icing down the drinks. So I'm going to stick these in the fridge and go see if they're doing their work.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
How are you guys doing?
SPEAKER 3: Good.
NARRATOR: Good job. Thanks guys.
Up next, the ultimate rancher's dinner. My husband's grilling up some beef tenderloin. I'm making fresh corn casserole and iceberg wedges with ranch. Then, it's on to roping and a shootout.
SPEAKER 4: Let's go.
SPEAKER 5: Come on.
SPEAKER 1: Get your gun and start shooting.
NARRATOR: Bring it on.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 1: Well, it looks like you got plenty of clay pigeons.
SPEAKER 4: I've hung it up.
SPEAKER 1: You want to see if it works? All right. That'll work.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: Well, our rancher's party is going to have everything a rancher's party needs. Good friends, a shooting competition, great food, including steaks and big chunks of iceberg lettuce with homemade ranch dressing.
Now, I've made plenty of batches of ranch dressing from the paper packet in the grocery store. But there was a time when I found myself out of paper packets and I had to figure out a way to make my own. And once I mastered it, there was no going back. It is so delicious.
Start by mashing three garlic cloves with some kosher salt. Combine three cups of mayonnaise with a cup and a half of sour cream. Then, add 3/4 of a cup to 1 and 1/2 cups of buttermilk depending on how thick you want the dressing.
And now, for the fresh herbs, add 1/2 a cup of chopped parsley, three tablespoons of chopped chives, and six tablespoons of chopped dill. To sharpen the dressing, add 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of white vinegar. And then, deepen the flavor with 1 and 1/2 teaspoons of Worcestershire sauce.
And now, for the spices, we're almost there. Add a dash of cayenne pepper, 3/4 of a teaspoon of paprika, and a teaspoon and a half of black pepper, and a dash of hot sauce would be good too. And that's it. And be sure to taste it. And you can adjust the flavors as you want to. That is so good. There are going to be a lot of happy ranchers tonight I can tell you that.
Now, I'm going to stick this in the fridge and let the flavors develop for a little while.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 1: We'll get the grill ready for the tenderloins. It's so windy out. I'm going to put a little extra charcoal in so I'll have plenty of heat to cook them. I think, that'll do it. I think, that's enough. We'll roll it back down.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: Any time I have a party or big family gathering, corn casserole is always on the menu. I learned how to make this from my mother-in-law. And it is the most delicious side dish imaginable.
I start by husking several cobs of corn. And what I'm going to do is just cut the end off so I have some support. And then, with a really sharp knife, I just slice down the cob and cut off the kernels. In the process, I try to scrape along the cob because within this cob is this magical, creamy, milky liquid that really makes the finished dish wonderful.
[HUSKING]
All right, I've got all the corn in a bowl. And now, for the fun part, the butter of course. Now, I'm going to add about two sticks of butter to this amount of corn. But don't be alarmed. For the amount of people we're feeding, two sticks of butter really isn't that much. I sound kind of defensive, don't I?
The great thing about this casserole is that you can make it ahead of time. And I love things you can make ahead of time. You can do it early in the day and keep it in the fridge or you can do it right before. And then, it just bakes in the oven while the guests arrive.
[MIXING]
Now, I've got a pint of cream. I'll add almost the whole thing. This is just a very old, very classic recipe in this part of the country because fresh corn is abundant. All right, we've got plenty of salt and pepper. And then, I've got some pretty finely diced red bell peppers and some finely diced jalapenos. And I thought the jalapenos would give it a nice spice. And spicy and party go hand in hand, I think.
Now, I've got two big buttered casserole dishes over here. And I'll just evenly distribute. Make sure it's nice and stirred before you add it in.
Now, it doesn't look like the corn has a lot of liquid. But as it cooks, the butter will melt. The corn will give off liquid. The cream will mix with the butter. And it just turns into this magical delicious substance.
It goes in about a 350 degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes until it's bubbly. It's almost party time.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Stick around, the party's about to begin. Lad's sizzling by the grill with the tenderloins. And I'm getting ready to serve up the corn, twice baked potatoes, and iceberg wedges with ranch dressing. Guns, ropes, and good friends, it doesn't get any better than that.
Lad's making the tenderloin tonight. It's his specialty. You're going to see why in a second.
SPEAKER 1: You got it ready for me?
[LAUGHS]
NARRATOR: I was just talking about you.
SPEAKER 1: All right. You ready for me to get started?
NARRATOR: I did my part. I melted the butter.
SPEAKER 1: Good.
[LAUGHS]
NARRATOR: And I threw in--
SPEAKER 1: It's a hard job.
NARRATOR: I threw in a couple of extra sticks.
SPEAKER 1: All right.
NARRATOR: I'm just going to sit here and watch. This is my favorite part.
SPEAKER 1: Well, it's important to make sure you have plenty of butter, because they're going to kind of simmer in the butter in the pan.
NARRATOR: I think, that's why our marriage has lasted all these years because we have the same butter philosophy.
[LAUGHS]
SPEAKER 1: Now, we need a little lemon pepper. And you can apply that pretty liberally. I like to put plenty of season on them.
NARRATOR: Those are beautiful pieces of beef. Peppercorns too, I crushed them myself.
SPEAKER 1: Is that what you've been doing up here all morning?
NARRATOR: Yeah. I wasn't taking a nap. So are you ready for your wife to beat you at shooting?
SPEAKER 1: I don't think that's going to happen.
NARRATOR: I think, you should prepare yourself.
SPEAKER 1: You claimed you beat me once, but I don't know.
NARRATOR: Oh?
SPEAKER 1: That's all right.
NARRATOR: We'll see.
SPEAKER 1: We'll see tonight.
NARRATOR: We'll see, bro.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah. We'll see, all right?
NARRATOR: We'll see, bro.
SPEAKER 1: We'll see.
NARRATOR: You're going down, husk.
SPEAKER 1: No.
NARRATOR: Go get the seasoned salt. We got to hurry. We got stuff to do.
SPEAKER 1: All right.
NARRATOR: I love ordering him around in the kitchen. It's my domain.
SPEAKER 1: All right. That's it. I got them done.
NARRATOR: Thanks, honey.
SPEAKER 1: You're welcome.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: If you fell take issue with me again.
SPEAKER 4: Let's go.
SPEAKER 5: Come on.
[GUNSHOT]
SPEAKER 1: Nice.
[GUNSHOT]
NARRATOR: Well, I don't want to make everyone feel inferior.
SPEAKER 1: Get your gun and start shooting. Big talker. When you're shooting, aim that way. Don't aim this way, OK?
NARRATOR: I don't need a lesson.
SPEAKER 6: All ready?
SPEAKER 1: We're playing knockout, right?
[GUNSHOT]
[CHEERING]
NARRATOR: I already got. That you're out.
SPEAKER 1: I shot it. You shot it and then I shot it. Oh let's just go again. I know. Let's go again. Go.
[GUNSHOT]
SPEAKER 7: Knock it, Ree. Knock it.
[GUNSHOT]
[CHEERING]
NARRATOR: You're out, sir. You're out.
SPEAKER 1: Nice shot. Good shot, honey.
NARRATOR: It's pretty good, huh?
SPEAKER 1: You did good. Put that behind your shoulders, hon. Hit it.
[GUNSHOT]
[CHEERING]
Now, I'm just letting the tenderloins cook in the butter. And now, they'll stay on here for 20 minutes or so. Get kind of down on the bottom side. And then, I'll come and turn them. Might add a little more butter as I go.
NARRATOR: The corn is ready. Oh my gosh, this smells so good. The great thing about this casserole is that you can make it ahead of time. I'm going to stick the potatoes in the oven. Get them nice and warm. Guests with guns. We throw a mean party around here, don't we?
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Next up, cowboys, cowgirls, steaks, potatoes, friends, laughter and fun.
SPEAKER 1: OK, honey. Come on.
NARRATOR: Stand back, everyone.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
For recipes from this episode, go to foodnetwork.com/pioneerwoman.
What do you think?
SPEAKER 2: We have a lot of food.
NARRATOR: We have plenty of food as always.
SPEAKER 1: The wind creates a little higher degree of difficulty when grilling than normal. When you've got about a 40 mile an hour wind out here. So you have to get your fire hotter than normal.
So that means, you got to have a little more butter than normal, more seasoning. It just changes everything up a little bit. Oh, those look good. They're starting to get a little brown now on the bottom side. So I'm just going to go ahead and turn them. Don't want them getting too dark on one side.
You all getting hungry?
SPEAKER 8: Yeah. That's good.
SPEAKER 1: I'm not too far off.
NARRATOR: Oh honey, those look good.
SPEAKER 1: Paper's ready. Are you ready?
NARRATOR: I'm ready. Yep. Oh my word. Good job.
SPEAKER 1: It's making me hungry.
NARRATOR: I love it when you make tenderloin.
SPEAKER 1: Yeah, I bet you do.
NARRATOR: It's the highlight of my life every time you make it.
SPEAKER 1: Gets you out of the kitchen, huh?
NARRATOR: I'll take these in.
SPEAKER 1: All right. Thank you, honey.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
NARRATOR: Pardon my fingers. We're all friends here.
[LAUGHS]
When I don't hear much talking from my guests, I think, that means, the food's right on the money.
SPEAKER 9: Lad makes the best tenderloin every time. It's perfect every time.
SPEAKER 10: It is. He did a good job. And the twice baked potatoes are outstanding. The homemade dressing and corn is great. Everything is great.
SPEAKER 11: I have two helpings of everything. And now, I'm ready for the third. Save a little bit of room for dessert.
NARRATOR: Hey, guys. Time for brownie sundaes.
Missy made brownies today. She also made my mom's hot fudge sauce. It's going to be delicious. My father-in-law is first in line for dessert as usual.
SPEAKER 11: Hey, we going to hot fudge.
NARRATOR: Knock yourself out. We've got chocolate vanilla swirl ice cream and chocolate ice cream. There you go. Have fun guys.
This evening's gone about as good as it could have gone. I beat my husband at shooting.
[LAUGHS]
SPEAKER 1: Whoa. Easy.
NARRATOR: The food was great.
[LAUGHS]
SPEAKER 1: So let's do some roping. We'll just settle it all by a little rope off.
NARRATOR: Being married to him is very complicated.
[LAUGHS]
All right. Let's go rope.
SPEAKER 1: All right. Let's go.
NARRATOR: Let's go. I'm ready.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
SPEAKER 1: OK, honey. Come on.
NARRATOR: Stand back, everyone.
SPEAKER 1: There you go.
[LAUGHS]
[MUSIC PLAYING]